I did not have time or the computing resources back then to personally get seriously into Elite, Elite II or Elite III, and I only really played the original Elite on a handful of occasions, so all I really have to go on is what other people tell me about how ED compares to the preceding three games from a gameplay perspective. That being said, a friend of mine who is a big fan of the Elite series and who has played the original games to quite a significant degree seems to actually disagree with your assessment regarding the older games.
While some players do try to convince everyone else that ED is some how primarily a "multiplayer arcade space shooter" (c/f primarily a PvP frag-fest game), there are at least some of us that realise that this was not FD's design intent and that seems to be primarily why FD are considering implementing some form of automated PvP behaviour moderation system (e.g. the proposed karma system with supporting C&P changes).
Regarding fully Newtonian flight, I have seen similar discussions wrt other space sim games and the general consensus seems to be most people do not want this kind of flight model. It is an interesting idea perhaps, but unless you can control ALL ships reliably and effectively in ED using Flight Assist mode permanently turned off then I suspect you would end up regretting playing any game with a full Newtonian flight model. It is probably worth keeping in mind that the vast majority of aircraft these days are actually fly by wire thus it is not too unbelievable for a futuristic space flight sim to model their flight model along comparable lines.
Regarding planetary landings and atmospheric flight support, we are led to believe it is still on the cards to be implemented but we may have to wait for it to be delivered since they almost certainly want to ensure they have covered all the angles. I suspect the greater issue with this is the degree and nature of the planet side graphical assets especially since I suspect they will want to model Earth pretty faithfully and keep at least some current landmarks recognisable in some shape or form.
LOL this "consensus" is a complete myth amongst ED players who don't understand what they're talking about - the few individuals claiming they couldn't control their ships in FE2 & FFE were invariably trying to dogfight while at ludicrous speeds with their flight-assist set to a distant navigational FoR - with all thrusters (main, vertical and horizontal) firing at max power attempting to change a 90 km/s vector to whatever direction they pointed the ship, basically flailing around doing out-of-control donuts with the pedal floored.
All you need to do in that situation is apply manual thrusts, so thrust left to move left, right to move right, up to move up etc. etc., the same as you do in ED. Dogfighting in FFE is immeasurably more fun than anything i've encountered in ED. You have far more control, it's totally intuitive and instantly responsive.
The main improvement needed (if only for the above folks who couldn't grasp what they were doing) is better FoR control - being able to select your current vector as your FoR would effectively re-zero your velocity reading without having to physically change speed relative to your navigational vector (basically restoring your "blue zone"-like handling envelope at the touch of a button). Similarly, being able to manually select anything and everything as an FoR, for the same purpose.
This is basically what ED is doing under the hood, via the FSD, except you have no control over it, and it removes virtually all control from you as pilot. So instead we're stuck with ED's lame, illogical "blue zone", pathetic "space speed limits", inability to rotate the ships freely on any axis, especially yaw, etc. etc. which precludes just about anything and everything fun and enticing about spaceflight in the first place.
What ED has done is eviscerate the whole experience of freeform spaceflight - arguably Elite's very essence since '84 - to pander to the planes-in-space pew pew crowd for whom unrestrained spaceflight = "skidding". So instead of spaceships in space, we have submarines in custard. 'Skidding' sorted. LOL.
Space is a vacuum. It's not a fluid. There is no friction. Hence spaceflight
really is one big long controlled skid. That's precisely what's so cool about it. With FA-on in FE2 & FFE, and set to similar speeds as ED's submarines, they handle in precisely the same way - roll & pitch, but you also have full yaw control, and the ships rotate at equal speed in all axes regardless of your velocity, with nothing to stop you going as fast as you like in any plane. It's a vastly better game, much more fun
because it's spaceflight, not in spite of it.
Open the throttles in FE2 / FFE, your nuclear fusion thrusters kick in and you start to accelerate... until you tell it to stop. It's totally awesome and thrilling on every level, perfectly fulfilling the dream of unconstrained free spaceflight with insane energy reserves.. contrasted with ED, wherein you open the throttles, the ship shudders and groans, lurches forward a little... then basically shuts down, immobilised and unable to do anything
at all that you'd associate with 'space flight'.
Every single ship in ED is left eating the dust of every single actual spaceship that has ever flown, from Sputnik to SpaceX. ED ships can't even freefall unpowered at anything approaching realistic velocities. It's an emasculated embarrassment of an attempt at capturing anything of the fun of spaceflight. Not so FE2 / FFE - wherein a mere escape capsule can easily outrun ED's fastest ships, leaving them light-days behind,
in 'normal space', without needing warp drives or even time acceleration.
In short, ED does not feature spaceflight. Basic spaceflight is impossible in ED. The game is fundamentally incapable of it, incompatible with it, and never will be. It's fundamentally
not a spaceflight game in any meaningful sense, and thus not truly an
Elite sequel. And this is about the only point with which i disagree with T'Kitr's post - '84 Elite was the very pinnacle of spaceflight games, as far as what was possible at the time, and compared to any other offerings. In that sense, FE2 and FFE only built further upon that solid foundation. In making a modern-day homage to Oolite (which is basically ED's whole design ethos), ED has utterly abandoned the very paradigm
Elite pioneered in the first place. It's no longer a spaceflight game, and soul-destroyingly dull and lifeless precisely because of it.
If we were truly free to fly our own ships - which is
Elite's defining premise - this forum would be almost empty, with a player base in the millions. Most of the
Eve contingent came here in the first place because of that promise. The shameful tragedy is that most of them seem to be under the illusion that it's been fulfilled - that spaceflight is
supposed to be boring, that ED's no-yaw space speed limits blue zone banality really is as good as it gets. In reality it's a betrayal of everything
Elite always stood for.
